


Light Bulb

by historicallyredacted (lockandkey)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, American History, Historical References, Lizards, M/M, Mentioned Racism, Obvious Tropes Are Obvious, Priests, Roman Catholicism, The Unpleasant Historical References, Valgrace Week 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 08:42:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19460431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockandkey/pseuds/historicallyredacted
Summary: Leo moves into a new apartment at an outrageously low price for unknown reasons. The lights keep flickering, but that's fine. Plus, his roommate is hot.Maybe a bit less corporeal than Leo was expecting, but, hey, there's probably a fix for that.





	Light Bulb

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to upload this all as one monster, but I'm breaking it into two chapters For Reasons. 
> 
> I've never written valgrace before for some unknown reason. I don't know how. I've written leotavian, yet not valgrace. Shoot me. Anyway, I actually have another one in mind, that's a bit less perky.
> 
> Enjoy some Ghost!Jason. I'm leaning pretty heavily into classic ghost story tropes.
> 
> (Pay some mind to the tags. Some pretty shit moments of American history, colonization, racism, and environmental destruction are mentioned, in addition to other Unpleasant things.)

  


  
Well, it certainly didn’t look like much.  
  
The floors were old and creaky, the kitchen was ancient and tiny consisting of nothing more than an old range stove and mini-fridge; and there was a sad little ‘garden’ outside that was nothing more than dirt and some old lion looking stone fountain. The walls were white, the kitchen was white, the ceiling was white (apart from a few suspect stains).  
  
“You know what?” Leo said turning to the little old lady he happened to be taller than (a rare noticeable occasion that must be marked down in his calendar.)  
“I, pardon my French, _fucking_ love it.”  
  
It was a shitshow, but finding a three bedroom (vaguely) furnished apartment in San Francisco for under $1,000 a month was too good to be true. Like, definitely too good to be true.  
  
Leo hopped up on a kitchen bar stool that desperately wanted to give out under his unremarkable weight.  
“Is, uh, anyone else renting a room here too…or what? The ad wasn’t really clear.”  
  
The little abuela wrung her hands together and had a nervous smile on her thin face. “Well, no, but maybe? I don’t expect you’ll see it- him.”  
  
“ _Disconcerting_ , love it, love you. I’ll take it.” How many kidneys did he need again? Not all of them, certainly.  
  
The woman looked surprised, nearly stumbling in shock. “You-…You will? That’s- oh, hun, that’s wonderful! It’s been so hard to keep tenants, but it is really a very lovely place to live. Close to all sorts of things, it’s a quiet back street.”  
  
Leo bit his lip and nodded his head along with her slight head tremors as she spoke. None of that mattered, he just needed a big enough space to set up some of his supplies while he went to school. There were worse foster homes he had stayed in for longer. What was two years, really? Nothing. Leo’d probably stayed awake longer than two years at a time before. Probably, he tended to start blacking out after day 5.  
  
“Right, well. Eustace-“  
  
“My name isn’t-“  
  
“- Let’s sign some papers, shall we? I have a great pen, I use it for all important paperwork, it’s extremely glittery.”  
  
“You don’t mind-“  
  
“What?” He sent her a 500megawatt grin. “Other people being around? Of course not, I love people. Me, Leo Valdez, people person. It’s my middle name.”  
  
  
  
  
  
Leo sat up in the middle of the night after a loud bang echoed somewhere in the apartment.  
  
“I fucking hate people,” he hissed, swinging skinny legs out of 60 thread count sheets. “Who is making that much noise at….” Leo looked at his phone. “3am?”  
  
Festus looked at Leo from his tank, accusatory.  
“Besides me, obviously, you dumb lizard - No, I’m sorry, don’t take that personally, I adore you. I was just lashing out. You know how I get.”  
  
Something popped and shattered outside, and had Leo huffing before stalking out into the living room ready to yell at his _roomie_. What he saw instead had Leo tripping over his feet and wanting to put on significantly more (or better) clothing than just TMNT boxers.  
  
A young man, maybe a year or two older than Leo stood in the middle of the entryway underneath the ceiling fan. The light bulb inside the fan was flickering uncontrollably but seemed to stop when the man noticed Leo. He was the all-American boy next door fantasy, the lovechild of jock and nerd. Like, he’d tell you about Shakespeare while swinging a baseball bat around. Or maybe, he’d be a bashful firefighter, stripping down for a good cause like raising money for an animal shelter full of three legged dogs.  
In other words, he didn’t look like he belonged in casa de la cucaracha.  
  
The man glanced at the shattered light bulb in the living room, maybe where he had just come from, and frowned. He had a scar on his upper lip.  
“There’s glass on the floor, it’s not safe…” It was nearly a mumble, not a conversation. Not the first thing you say to your new roomie.  
  
“Yeah, no shit, man. What the fuck happened. Did we have a power surge?” Leo asked, crossing his arms over his chest. It was colder here, than in Houston. Leo had thought California was supposed to be hot, his nipples could poke out an eye.  
  
The man tilted his head, brows furrowing in question, and hopefully not because he could read minds.  
  
“You know? A power surge?” Leo waved a hand at the lights. “I didn’t hear any thunder, so I’m guessing it wasn’t lightning. If the power company was switching over the grid, it shouldn’t cause anything that severe unless the wiring in this place is seriously shit.” Leo thought about it for a moment. “I could fix that though, not legally, you’d need to hire a contractor and get permits and all that, but I mean. I could. And, we could just…not tell anyone.”  
  
The light flickered again, but the man didn’t seem to notice, he just continued to stare at Leo.  
  
“I uh, I’m your roommate, I guess.” Leo took a few steps closer and held out his hand. “Leo S Valdez. Nice to meet you…?”  
The man looked down at the hand, back up to Leo, then looked behind himself with a cute expression of growing confusion and concern.  
“Talking to you, blondie. It’s just the two of us, unless there’s more roommates that Eustace or Hellen or whatever her name was, didn’t tell me about.”  
  
Discount Chris Evans opened his mouth, and then closed it. Then, finally. “I’m…Jason?”  
  
Leo grinned, and reached down to grab the guys hand and shake it over enthusiastically. “Nice to meet you, Jason!”  
  
Jason looked shocked, staring at their hands, and suddenly pulled back harshly. Their hands weren’t entirely disconnected yet, so it more just pulled Leo forward with it instead of away from him. The guy was strong, and Leo weighed approximately 3 pennies, and lurched into the guys chest.  
Nice, solid, muscle-y chest.  
  
Leo pushed back and laughed nervously. “Sorry about that, man. One of us can clean up the glass in the morning, maybe? I’m…going to go back to sleep. See you around, J.”  
  
Jason said nothing, just watched as Leo left the room.  
  
As Leo got into his bedroom, he crouched down in front of Festus’ tank, and whispered conspiratorially.  
  
“Buddy, there’s a really hot guy living here. He might harvest my lungs for what I’m guessing is a steroid habit, but I’m going to go ahead and let him because it’s the closest I’ll ever get to someone that hot being inside me, okay? So, promise me you’ll not go all attack-lizard. Comprende?”  
The bearded dragon continued to stare.  
“I’m glad we had this talk. You get roaches and fruit tonight. I love you.”

  
  
  
Leo’s first class at USF was bright and early in the morning, so as the sun was rising, Leo wandered out into the rest of the apartment to find something to eat. The glass on the ground was noticeably missing, so Jason couldn’t be that bad of a guy, Leo thought.  
  
Until he scared the _bejesus_ out of Leo when he was eating. Leo was flipping through a local paper, and chomping down on some toast, and when he turned around Jason was just standing there in the small kitchenette still just _staring_ at him.  
  
Leo coughed on a piece of bread and grabbed up his glass of water to soothe his throat. “Holy fuck, man, I nearly choked on my avocado toast. That’s not what I want my last meal to be, I don’t even like it, I just thought I was legally obligated in California to eat it, like Jury Duty.”  
  
“Yes,” Jason said stiffly making, and keeping direct eye contact. “That…would be bad.”  
  
“Yeaah… _soooo_. I have classes to get to. Do you go to school around here, or just work?” Leo didn’t know why he was trying to make conversation; it was a horrible curse of his. Talkative, yet hating talking.  
  
Jason looked a bit sad for a moment, more human seeming than he had before, and shook his head. “Not anymore. I was in the military, for a while. But…”  
  
“Not anymore. Gotcha.” Leo mock saluted. “Thank you for your service, by the way you don’t still have the uniform or anything- you know what ignore that I need to leave immediately.”  
  
“You’ll…be back though?” Jason asked, looking hopeful. Like a broken man, who hadn’t had someone to talk to in a long time. “Later?”  
  
“Yeah, Jason.” Leo affirmed, softly. “I’ll be back tonight. I gotta feed my lizard.”  
  
“...Your _what_?” Leo cackled as the door swung shut behind him.  
  
  
  
  
  
“He likes you!” Leo exclaimed, as Festus skittered across the floor around Jason. Jason, for his part looked extremely nervous, not moving an inch, as though he didn’t want to chance hurting the animal. For the last week Jason had been cautious, but curious whenever Leo had out the animal.  
  
Normally Festus just chilled on Leo’s shoulder while they watched TV, but tonight Netflix didn’t want to seem to load anything. Instead, Leo’d just been talking with Jason. The guy was interesting, in a weird way. He was really into religious studies, but didn’t seem to have any particular preference. He liked shows and movies, and had a weird split of total knock out classics and also Twilight.  
  
“Is that what this looks like?” Jason asked, tensely, but slowly seemed to relax his shoulders. “I’ve never seen one of these before, until you.”  
  
“They’re Australian, from the Outback.” Leo said in an extremely terrible Australian accent. Jason smiled.

“That was really good.” It really wasn’t. “Have you ever been? To Australia?”  
  
“Nah. You’re too nice for your own good,” Leo laughed, sprawled out with his legs stretched out across the floor. Jason slowly moved until he too was sitting on the floor of the apartment.  
  
“That, I’ve heard before.” Jason laughed, looking nostalgic. “They’re not poisonous, are they?”  
  
“Bearded dragons? No, also, it’s venomous. Venomous things kill you when they bite you, poisonous things kill you when you bite them. I stole that from someone, don’t smile at me like that.” Leo flushed; the way Jason looked at him made Leo feel like the most important guy in the world. Usually it was just amused annoyance at best, even from his ex’s.  
  
“Sorry, I just like the way you talk. I haven’t really…talked with anyone in a long time.”  
  
“No friends around?” Leo asked, and Jason shook his head. “Sorry, J. If it makes you feel better, I don’t have any friends here either, besides Festus. I moved here from Houston. Granted, I didn’t really have any friends there either.”  
  
“No wife, kids?” Jason wondered, and Leo stared at him like he had grown a second head.  
  
“I’m like 20, man, good god no. How old do you think I am?” Jason shrugged a shoulder and looked mildly apologetic.  
  
“Sorry, that wasn’t that weird when I was younger. So, you’re in school here right,? What do you study?”  
  
Leo wondered where the fuck Jason had grown up but didn’t linger on it. “I’m in engineering. Finishing my Masters.”  
  
Jason blinked, and Leo waited for some exclamation of wonder that usually followed. Jason simply smiled.  
_  
_ “Yeah, uh, it was hard finishing up my bachelors _so_ young, you know. I was finished with High School at 14, then started on my 4 year, which I would have finished a lot earlier but there were issues with funding and all that. I had foster parents that didn’t want me to use the money my mom left me when she died. Some thought I was just too young, you know, to be going off to college. Since it’s so unusual. Rare, even, you might say.”  
  
“Is that your way of telling me I should be in awe of your genius?” Jason laughed, and looked happy enough, even with a teasing tone.  
  
“I didn’t say the word genius, I just implied it heavily.”  
  
“You don’t have to. I already know you’re special, Leo.”  
  
Leo’s brain stalled out, which he would later blame as the reason why he grabbed Jason’s collar and yanked him down to meet his mouth with Leo’s own.  
Jason froze momentarily, before quickly returning the kiss with the force and need of a starving man. Leo moved onto his knees, ignoring the pain of the tile floor on bare skin, as he positioned himself onto Jason’s lap. He ran his hands through short blonde hair, before pushing a hand up Jason’s shirt and finding two hands moving up his own. Soon enough, Leo’s shirt was off, and he was desperately trying to get Jason’s on the ground, but Jason wasn’t helping things as one firm hand had a hold of Leo’s hip and was rocking Leo down to meet his own hips.  
Leo moaned as the hand on his hips moved to the inside of his shorts, grabbing a handful of ass and skin; while Jason’s other free hand gripped harshly into Leo’s hair, pulling him back from their kiss, so Jason had better access to Leo’s neck and collarbone.  
  
Leo’s brain was fire, burning out of control, he’d never been so turned on in… _ever_. He could feel the heat between them, the thick pressure of Jason’s cock against Leo’s stomach. It was too much.  
  
“I want to suck your dick, oh my god, Jason, please. I want to-“  
  
The lights in the apartment burned bright, blindingly so, like daylight until they shattered and burst. Glass rained down around the light fixtures throughout the entire building, as well as the buildings nearby, which Leo wouldn’t know about until much later.  
  
The sudden burst, and blackness of the room had Leo yelping, and leaning backwards. “What the fuck? Was that another surge- oh fuck, there’s glass everywhere. Jason, I need to get Festus, okay?”  
  
Leo jumped up and turned the flashlight on his phone to look for the reptile, ignoring his own now waning erection.  
  
“I’m sorry, Leo. I didn’t mean to.”  
  
Leo frowned, brain burnt out like the lights, and turned around to question Jason as to why _he_ was apologizing.  
  
But Jason wasn’t there. There was no trace of him.  
  
Leo spun around, moving his light with him. No Jason. In fact, more than that – no glass was on the floor anymore.  
  
“What the fuck?...Jason? Festus? Where’d you go?” There was a small thunk in the darkness, coming from Leo’s room.  
  
“Oh, bed. Huh.” Leo felt his face get hot once again, as he walked towards his room. “So, you want to just go straight to- alright, I mean, first time for everything. I mean, my ex Caly totally pegged me a few times, but I’ve never just jumped into bed with someone before- I need to stop talking.”

Jason was not in Leo’s room. He wasn’t in the closet; he wasn’t under the bed (Leo checked). He wasn’t even in Festus’ sizeable tank.  
Leo did a double take with the light and flopped to the floor in confusion.  
Festus stared at him from inside the enclosure.  
  
“....How the fuck did you get back in there, buddy?" Leo breathed out, eyes wide.  
  
Festus’ tank was a 4x4x6 primarily wooden monster, with a heavy wooden screen top with locks to prevent any escapes. It had been propped open while Leo had Festus out to show Jason, but it wasn’t something Festus could have closed himself and Leo was fairly certain he would have seen Jason leaving his room if it had been him, even in the dark.  
  
"What the fuck is going on?"  
  
  
  
  
  
The next morning, Leo didn’t see Jason, but he did see Euphemia or whatever her name was. She was standing next to a ladder in the main hallway, watching a man install a new light bulb.  
  
“Hey, crazy surge we had.” Leo called out, walking up to the two. The man looked down at Leo from the ladder, looking tired and heavily annoyed. He was the kind of man who was likely much younger than he looked, but took up cigarettes and couldn’t kick them.  
  
“This building goes through more lights than the whole of Las Vegas,” the guy said, making his way down. Yeah, Leo thought, he looked like the kind of man who was very familiar with Vegas. “I keep telling you May, call that guy I gave you the number for. He’s good.”  
  
May? Her name was _May_?  
  
“I know,” the older woman looked guilty. “I know, I just feel…guilty about it. I don’t think it means anything bad by it.”  
  
“You know, if you need an electrician…I have a degree in engineering? I could give it a looksie, see if I notice anything peculiar?” Leo offered, feeling awkward standing between the two obviously going over an established argument.  
  
“Ha!” The man scoffed. “We don’t need an electrician. Electrician has been in a hundred times. You need a fucking exorcist.”  
  
“Martin!” May chastised the man, Martin apparently.  
Or was it Greg? Mark? Leo was only half listening.  
  
Leo tried not to explicitly show his skepticism, but it leaked out anyway. “You think this was from a… ghost?”  
  
The man, and May both exchange a look, before they looked at Leo.  
“You’ve…not seen anything odd? In your apartment?” May asked, somewhat nervously. Then again, she seemed to do everything somewhat nervously. She was like the small dog breed of humans. Like, a whippet in human form.  
  
“Uh, no?” Leo laughed, incredulously. “Wait, is that why rent is so cheap? What did someone die in my apartment?”  
  
“About a hundred years ago, yeah.” The man huffed out. “It’s bad energy.”  
  
Leo grinned and teased. “Should I get some cleansing crystals? Light a candle. Dance naked in the moonlight? My roommate might not love that.” Then again, Jason had been all up in his business last night, so maybe he would.  
  
May’s eyes got big, and she looked to be at a loss for words for a moment. “Y-your…roommate?”  
  
“Yeah?” Leo said slowly. “Jason? Big blonde superman looking guy?”  
  
May crossed herself three times, and the man (Sean?) did the same, muttering a prayer.  
  
“Okay, the fuck?”  
  
“Ghost. That kid, was a ghost.” Mark said, shaking his head.  
  
Leo burst out laughing, unable to stop himself, doubling over and waving a hand at the two. “Oh, oh my god. That’s good. Good one, you guys. Ghost. Ha! Jason? I had no idea _ghouls_ were such good kissers!”  
  
Greggory and May frowned. “Wait, wh-“  
  
“Anyway,” Leo wiped a tear away from his eyes. “I have class. See you later. Let me know if you want me to look at the power grid later!”  
  
  
  
  
  
Annabeth Chase stared at Leo blankly across the desk from him. She was getting her second Master’s degree, but she was also a couple years older than Leo. Not by much though, Leo needed to keep up the pace if he wanted to compete with her. Though, her boyfriend had made it quite clear no one kept up with Annabeth. That, however, sounded like a challenge to Leo.  
  
“A _ghost_?”  
  
“Right?” Leo snorted. “They really pulled it off though, unless they’re actually that stupid.”  
  
“That sounds like a horrific coding violation, honestly. But, Leo, I think you haven’t fully considered the ramifications of if they’re _not_ lying.”  
  
“What, if it’s actually a ghost?” Annabeth rolled her eyes.  
  
“No, if this Jason guy is a squatter. They thought you lived alone. However - I’m guessing they’ve seen him briefly before…maybe they noticed things being moved around, footsteps. Classic ‘haunting’ behavior. They might be led to believe it's paranormal. But, he’s obviously human. So, that brings up the question of _how_ and _why_ he’s there if the owners aren’t aware of him. Have you been into Jason’s room? Seen any of his personal accouterments? Did you see any evidence someone else was living there when you moved in? Isn’t it possible he’s not supposed to be there, and you’re just hormonal enough to have looked past the obviously sketchy guy who just showed up inside your apartment? In the middle of the night?” Annabeth explained, to a very increasingly sinking emotion in Leo’s stomach.  
“You said he was in the military, didn’t you? He could be dangerous.”  
  
“No…” Leo shook his head just slightly. “No…I…don’t get that feeling at all.”  
  
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, “who is the gullible one now; your supers, or you?”  
  
  
  
  
  
Jason had been gone for a few days, but one unremarkable night he was just standing there looking out the back window into the garden when Leo returned home from classes. He spun around when Leo walked in, face spelling out sad and guilty like a kicked puppy dog.  
  
“Leo, I’m-“ Leo held up a hand to cut him off.  
  
“Save it. Can you tell me something, Jason? Do you live here?”  
  
Jason frowned, but nodded. “Yes?”  
  
“Are you _supposed_ to live here?” Leo stressed, and Jason looked like he was seriously thinking it over.  
  
“I…think so?”  
  
“You’re not a squatter right?” Jason looked nearly angry at the suggestion. “Okay, chill. I was just curious. The old lady was acting like you were a ghost or something when I mentioned you.”  
  
“…I am, Leo.” Jason said slowly, like he was talking to a dumb child.  
  
“A squatter?” Leo blinked. “I thought you-“  
  
“No,” Jason shook his head. “I’m a ghost. I died.”  
  
“Ha ha, funny.” Leo drawled with a glare. “Seriously, Jason, if you don’t want to date or something I get it, but just ducking out last night was-“  
  
Jason huffed as Leo spoke, and then vanished in front of him. Leo was left with his mouth open, mid sentence, mid word, and entirely befuddled.  
  
“Bu-wh-..I-…Are you a fucking magician? I refuse to fuck magicians, Jason!” Leo yelled out into the apartment, spinning around.  
Soon enough, Jason reappeared in the main part of the living room again. Right under the light bulb. Just like before. Leo frowned, he felt his brain connecting something, but it hadn’t caught up to the rest of him.  
  
Jason looked tired and annoyed.  
“I’m not a _magician_ , Leo. I’m dead. I died. I died on this land, in 1849.”  
  
Leo crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. “Why, my word, you don’t look a day over 169.”  
  
“I’m not _lying_ to you, I don’t want to lie to you. I really, really like you Leo. You’re the first person who has ever been able to touch me, and I could feel you too.” Jason walked up to him and put both hands on Leo’s shoulders. He looked much the way Jason generally looked, honest and sweet; sad but earnest. Like he was fighting for something bigger than himself.  
  
“Nope.” Leo said, and threw his bookbag down and pushed past Jason. “I’m not doing this. Goodnight, Jason.”  
  
Jason called out to him, but Leo ignored the man and went into his bedroom. He spent the night googling ghosts and haunts, 1900’s spiritualists, and known cons and con artists. He looked up Jason’s full name, Jason Grace, with no fitting results.  
  
The next morning, as soon as Leo walked out of his room, Jason was there talking.  
  
“I was in the army during the Mexican- American war, I was here in California. I was here until Mexico ceded the territory over to us. I grew up alright, on a farm. Never saw anyone much, we rarely ever went into town. My mom hated it, hated being seen. My sister though, she was what I wanted to be. Strong, brave, courageous."

Leo ignored him for a few hours, hiding in his room. Jason was still there. 

"I hated it, but I was a good soldier when I started. But, eventually I hated it. I watched so many young people become injured and die over lines in the sand. Young Americans, and so many young Mexicans and Spanish. Not even soldiers, just people, and it broke me.”  
  
Leo had no idea what to say, he knew deep down none of it could be true, but another part of him thought about how much it seemed like Jason enjoyed hearing Leo speak Spanish, and when he talked about his family before his mom died.  
  
“Cool story, you sure know how to sell a lie to a Latino. ‘ _I killed a bunch of Mexicans_.’ Groundbreaking story telling. Somebody call HBO. Really subverting expectations.” Leo didn’t bother eating breakfast, he just left the building. 

  
“It got worse.” Jason’s voice was quieter when Leo returned home that night. There was real sorrow on his face. “Do you know what happened in 1848 in California?”  
  
Leo stopped, thought about it, and couldn’t stop himself from responding. “The gold rush. They discovered gold.”  
  
Jason agreed with a cold short laugh. “That’s what it turned into, yeah. Just gold and greed. Protect the US citizens. Kill the Indians. Kill the bears. Kill, burn, destroy. Everything, everyone. Your state flag is a bear, yet they were wiped out in under a hundred years. They paid people in how many scalps they could collect. Men, women, _children_.”  
  
“I don’t…” Leo couldn’t find the words, he knew it was all bullshit, but Jason looked so … _Jason_. He looked nearly sick, distraught, telling Leo. Leo knew, somewhere in his head, all of this history, or at least most of it – but seeing it so raw across Jason’s face felt heart breaking.  
  
No, Leo told himself. It’s a lie. Ghosts aren’t real. You played tonsil hockey with this man. This actual living man.  
  
“The first village my troop was sent into, I saw a little girl, and I said no more. I want to say I turned around and walked away, I want to say I quit, Leo. But, I didn’t…I was so angry, so betrayed. They were _monsters_ , Leo. What they did, what they wanted to do. I killed them, I attacked the other soldiers. As many as I could, until they stopped me. A soldier used his bayonet to finally put me down. They called me a mad dog, a lone wolf…” Jason shook his head, like he was trying to remove the memories from his mind. He looked past Leo, into nothing.  
“There was no trial, they didn’t want to admit what had happened. What I had done. It didn’t make the papers. No one told what actually happened to my mother, to my sister. They told people the Indians had done it. They, the army, wiped them out. I watched, Leo, because I was dead. I stood there, unable to do anything. I couldn’t protect anyone. At least I was able to say goodbye to them, as they passed on. That’s the only time anyone could see me. I spoke to that girl again, after she died and before she moved on, she assured me things would be okay. It wasn’t. It got worse, throughout California. Everywhere. And I can’t do _anything_ to help anyone.”  
  
The lights were flickering again, and one burst in the kitchen. Leo’s heart was beating so fast, he wondered if Jason could hear it.  
“Jason, I-“  
  
Jason's voice had been growing louder, stronger; but now, it dropped to barely a whisper.

“I’ve watched, Leo. For the last 170 years, as this state was built up around me. As more people died, and were born, and built, and destroyed, and built some more. Over time, more and more people could see me, usually people who had known or seen death at some point in their lives. No one, not a single person, has been able to _touch_ me, or _hear_ me. No one until you, Leo.”  
  
Leo didn’t know why or how, but he had apparently fainted after that, because he woke up alone in his bed.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valgrace week y'all.
> 
> ...I'm honestly really upset I was two days late when I was born, otherwise I would have the same birthday as Leo. 
> 
> I'm spending the 4th watching stranger things hbu?


End file.
